The Role of a Nominee During Ofsted Inspections

When that call from Ofsted comes through, it can feel overwhelming to think about everything you need to coordinate over the next day or two before inspectors arrive. As a headteacher, you're already balancing many competing priorities, and the prospect of managing every aspect of an inspection whilst maintaining normal school operations can be daunting.

This is precisely where appointing a nominee can help to support your inspection experience - but what does this role entail?

What Is an Ofsted Nominee?

The nominee is a senior member of staff who acts as the key liaison between your school and the inspection team throughout the inspection process. Under the 2025 School Inspection Toolkit, headteachers can appoint a nominee to take on many of the logistical and coordination responsibilities that inspection involves.

Think of your nominee as your strategic partner during inspection – someone who can handle the practical details whilst you focus on leading your school community through what can be an anxious time for staff and pupils alike.

Why Appoint a Nominee?

Many headteachers initially hesitate to appoint a nominee, worried that it might appear as though they're stepping back from their leadership responsibilities. In reality, the opposite is true. Appointing a nominee demonstrates strategic thinking about how best to use your leadership capacity during inspection.

Consider what inspection week demands of you as a headteacher. You need to be visible around school, available for extended discussions with the lead inspector, responsive to staff concerns, and maintaining a calm, confident presence for your entire school community. Simultaneously managing room bookings, timetable adjustments, document retrieval and inspector logistics can pull you away from these crucial leadership priorities.

A well-prepared nominee handles these coordination tasks, freeing you to lead rather than administrate. They become the practical problem-solver whilst you remain the strategic leader.

What Does the Nominee Actually Do?

The nominee's responsibilities typically span three distinct phases: pre-inspection preparation, during the inspection itself, and post-inspection follow-up.

Before Inspection (During Your Window)

Your nominee can support by familiarising themselves with your school's self-evaluation and improvement priorities, understanding where key documents and evidence are stored, reviewing the current School Inspection Toolkit so they're aware of what inspectors will be evaluating, and building relationships with staff who hold key responsibilities like your SENDCo, Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and Pupil Premium (PP) Lead.

During the Planning Call

Whilst you'll lead the planning call with the lead inspector, your nominee can participate alongside you, taking detailed notes about inspector requests and timings, recording specific documentation or evidence inspectors want to see on arrival, noting any particular focus areas the inspection team mentions, and beginning to think about the logistics of making everything happen.

Having two people on this call reduces the risk of missing important details and means you can discuss priorities together immediately after the call ends.

Throughout the Inspection

During the inspection days, the nominee becomes your operational coordinator. They typically organise space for inspectors to work and conduct meetings, manage the logistics of inspector requests for staff meetings and lesson observations, retrieve and organise documents inspectors ask to see, coordinate timetable adjustments and cover arrangements, act as the first point of contact for inspector queries about practical matters, and monitor staff wellbeing throughout the process.

This coordination role is substantial. Without a nominee, all these requests come directly to you, fragmenting your attention and making it difficult to maintain the calm, strategic leadership presence your school community needs.

Choosing the Right Nominee

Not every senior leader is suited to the nominee role. The most effective nominees tend to be excellent organisers who remain calm under pressure, strong communicators who can be both diplomatic and assertive when needed, deeply familiar with your school's context, strengths and development areas, and respected by staff across your school.

They also need to be someone you trust implicitly to represent your school and make sound judgements about when to handle matters themselves and when to escalate concerns to you. Often, a deputy head or assistant head takes on this role, but in some schools, an experienced SENDCo or inclusion lead might be well-placed if they have the organisational capacity and aren't going to be heavily involved in case sampling discussions themselves.

Supporting Your Nominee Throughout Inspection

During the inspection itself, make sure you maintain regular touchpoints with your nominee. Brief check-ins help you stay aligned on priorities, give your nominee opportunity to flag any concerns before they escalate, and demonstrate to your nominee that you're working as a partnership rather than leaving them to manage everything alone.

Remember that inspection is stressful for your nominee too. They're juggling multiple demands whilst trying to present your school in the best possible light and support staff wellbeing. Acknowledging this pressure and checking in on how they're managing makes a significant difference.

For further guidance on the changes to the Ofsted framework and the Ofsted planning call, take a look at our blogs.